In the following tutorial, we signup with a FREE 30 day trial of TZO DDNS using your browser. We will then show you how to login to your Linksys Cable/DSL router and perform DDNS and Port forwarding setups. You can see other tutorials on the TZO Support page on running your own web server and email server, as well as other types of servers.

STEP 1) Signup with TZO Dynamic DNS (DDNS)
You now need to sign up for a free DDNS trial (Dynamic DNS) using TZO.
Go to http://LINKSYS.TZO.COM in your browser and you will see a screen similar to below:


The TZO.COM Linksys signup screen - Click TRY TZO FREE to get a free 30 day trial



Step 2) Click the TRY TZO FREE link at the top of that page as shown above and it brings you to the Linksys free trial signup page at TZO.COM as shown in the screenshot below. Enter your Email Address and your trial domain name and continue on to the next step:

The TZO.COM Linksys signup screen asks for your domain name and email address to signup

Step 3) Click the CREATE MY FREE TRIAL DOMAIN NAME at the bottom of the page as shown above. TZO will now send you an email. Check your email to obtain your TZO Trial information. Your email will contain a TZO Key, your domain selected, and the email address you used to signup. We now need to log into the Linksys router and enter the information under DDNS.

Step 4) LOG INTO YOUR ROUTER
You should now log into your router using the admin username and password. In order to login, you need to go to http://192.168.1.1 in your browser. This is the default IP of the Linksys router. * Keep in mind that you can only do this when you are attached to the router. Logging into the router will not work from a remote location. Once you reach the router, you will be asked for a username and password. The default username is blank, and the password is admin. If you cannot get into the router, contact your system admin or ISP for password information. TZO will not know your router username or password if it has been changed from the defaults.

When you login to the router, you first need to setup the TZO DDNS. Once you log into the router, you will see the screenshot similar to the one shown below. Click the DDNS link (shown circled in the bottom left of the menu bar)

STEP 5) Enabling TZO DDNS : Putting your TZO account information into the router:
Now that you have signed up at the TZO.COM Linksys signup page you will receive an email with your TZO trial information. You now need to copy and paste the information from the TZO Trial email into the DDNS section of the router. Below are 5 steps you need to get DDNS working in the router.

After you have all of your TZO DDNS settings in the router and click the apply button, this should log your account in and set the IP. The STATUS should say OPERATION COMPLETE if the login worked. If the status says something different, double check your settings and try again. In this example, The domain name MyName.LinksysNet.com has been updated with the IP - which is the IP address dynamically assigned by our cable modem ISP. In this example, the IP is blank, Your IP will show up where IP ADDRESS is shown, and that will be the current IP address in the TZO DDNS Servers.

STEP 6) Enabling Port Forwarding so you can run popular applications:
Now that you have enabled TZO.COM DDNS in your Linksys router, you have solved the Dynamic IP problem and have a domain name that acts just like a static IP. You now need to use the APPICATIONS and GAMING page to setup port forwarding. As shown circled in red in the screenshot below, click the APPLICATIONS and GAMING link and continue to step 7

STEP 7) Enabling Port Forwarding:
Now that you have entered the APPLICATIONS and GAMING section, you should determine the ports you need to forward. In this example, we have our server set to a static internal LAN IP of 192.168.1.200 - so we need to forward all the ports needed to this server. We are going to run a web server using port 80, an FTP server that uses port 20 and 21, and a Remote Desktop server that uses port 3389.

In this case below, you will see port 80, 81 (used if port 80 is blocked), 20, 21, and 3389 all pointing to the server at our internal IP of 192.168.1.200

You should do the same for your ports depending on what server(s) you wish to run. If your ISP blocks port 80, port 8, 82, 83 etc are good ports to use as an alternate. In this case shown below, we opened port 81 just incase our ISP blocks port 80, we won't have to add the port in the router at a later date.


The APPLICATIONS and GAMING screen of the Linksys WRT54G showing ports forwarded)

After you configure all the ports to the proper IP Address, then click the SAVE SETTINGS button. The sets the router to forward the proper ports to your servers. To add other applications, you need to know the port(s) and then you need to set the server up on your LAN and set the proper IP address.

Once you set the ports up, run your server(s) and have your friend try out your domain name in their browser! It's that easy. Keep in mind that when you are tesing the servers with your domain name, please do so from a remote location. If you are testing internally (using the same network as the server) use the INTERNAL IP address since most routers have problems using the domain name when on the same network as the server.

If you have trouble with ports, and want more information, you can see http://www.PortDetective.com and you should also check out Shield's Up, a personal security Website at http://www.grc.com

These websites can help determine what ports you have open on the router, and Port Detective can even help you find out if your ISP blocks these ports as well. For more information on the Linksys cable and DSL router, please see the Linksys website at http://www.Linksys.com